Why do some people struggle with losing weight?
misshoneyz2dab
Posts: 62 Member
I've known people, who eat healthy, drink plenty of water and exercise a lot. They always have trouble losing weight. What's gone wrong?
3
Replies
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They are consuming more calories than they burn. Unless there is a medical condition, that is the only reason.38
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You can eat healthy and still eat too much...exercise is great, but if it were simply for weight loss then people like me who are maintaining wouldn't exercise a lot.9
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Eating healthy doesn't guarantee weight loss. You have to be in a calorie deficit in order to lose.22
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Eating healthy has little to do with losing weight. I have a friend who eats healthy 90% of the time, works out daily and yet is 60lbs overweight and can't lose. Because despite all her activity and eating well, she still eats more than she burns.13
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This. They are most likely not watching their calorie intake.SuzySunshine99 wrote: »They are consuming more calories than they burn. Unless there is a medical condition, that is the only reason.
Eating clean/healthy and exercise does not necessarily mean someone will lose weight.9 -
Everybody struggles
Some people just work out it's down to eating less and commit8 -
At the most basic level, it is because they are not eating a deficit. But at the individual level, there are a variety of reasons why sustaining a deficit can be difficult and cause people to struggle.13
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Most of my life I thought I ate healthy and appropriate amounts. When I started logging, I realized how very many mindless calories I ate in a day. The reality never did line up with what I thought I was doing. I have been logging faithfully for almost a year and I am much more mindful and realistic about what I eat and how much I move and I am losing weight.15
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There's a disconnect in their self-control between "I want" and "I will".10
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cerise_noir wrote: »
This. They are most likely not watching their calorie intake.SuzySunshine99 wrote: »They are consuming more calories than they burn. Unless there is a medical condition, that is the only reason.
Eating clean/healthy and exercise does not necessarily mean someone will lose weight.
Really, this is something that's often drastically understated by most people. It's MUCH more effective to restrict calories to lose weight, than it is to increase exercise to any appreciable degree. I can create a 1000 calorie deficit, even with my relatively piddly maintenance calories (2100) pretty easily. To burn an extra 1000 calories in a day via exercise? Yeah, I don't have a bunch of spare hours to spend making myself want to die on an elliptical. So what do you expect from the kind of people who think of walking their dog and washing laundry as exercise?13 -
From the mathematical perspective, cutting calories in wins. From a more psychological or holistic perspective, I disagree that increasing exercise is less effective when it comes to people who are struggling with weight loss. Increasing exercise helps many people feel more energetic, sleep better, manage symptoms of depression, and improves mobility which can trickle down to a higher NEAT burn. The above (poor energy level/sleep, depression, mobility) are just a few of the reasons why people struggle with weight loss. The OP asked why people struggle, not why people don't lose weight. Those are two very different questions.15
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The modern American effect. Nothing is my fault, I'm a special snowflake, and I'm amazing no matter what. People lack self control and are in severe denial because it would mean having to face that they are flawed and aren't perfect.17
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Lots of people in the South eat home cooked healthy food. They just eat too much of it, hence the high incidence of obesity in that part of the country.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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Define healthy?
People think granola is healthy - it's a calorie bomb. People think a salad for lunch is healthy - some salads can pack more calories than chicken-fried steak.
You can eat all "whole" foods, all "healthy" things and still be over your calories. Calories are what matter for weight loss (not to be confused with what matters for health, mind you).18 -
To be straight forward : control. If you had a $200,000 German Sportscar, would you be able to control that kind of power. To go 35 when the speed limit is 40. With all of that power, the choice is yours and yours alone. And it's HARD to exercise control. Look at the food choices available to you. Not only do you have to admit that you're vastly flawed, but you have to learn a new word: "NO" . I have so much to learn on this journey of mine. It's not weight loss I'm after. Weight loss is the byproduct. I have to change the way I see food. I have to change my attitude about food and what its purpose is really for. I can't say, "...but I eat healthy and drink water. I don't drink cokes..." because that's just a blanket Facebook status. You know, Facebook- where so many go to embellish. You never get the whole picture and truth be told, do you want to? Barring a health condition or specific medication that could cause weight gain, the person who just can't lose weight is in fact, taking in more calories than they are expending, and that's a very, very easy thing for us to do. Caloric deficit + exercise =weight loss. But you've got to get over yourself and accept this as it is. One word. Control. I'm just as guilty as everyone else here is.12
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Honestly im on the band wagon with self control. I know alot of women who blame their hormones and pcos and people like oh im busy or work is hard im tired so i just eat there or My family ate this so i did to. But it comes down to did you burn more thn you ate or not. Pretty simple. Even for people who cant exercise. People struggle because they hide behind excuses 80% of the time, And 19.9% is just lack of educating themselves.
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misshoneyz2dab wrote: »I've known people, who eat healthy, drink plenty of water and exercise a lot. They always have trouble losing weight. What's gone wrong?
They're eating excess calories over their maintenance levels. Weight loss, weight gain and weight maintenance is about calories. Eat too many of them and you're going to gain weight. Simple as that.6 -
In my opinion, the most common cause of difficulty losing weight is not knowing how to lose weight. There is *so* much false information out there - mostly due to the weight loss industry.
We happen to be on a calorie counting website, so the vast majority of people using this site to count calories know that you have to consume fewer calories than you burn to lose weight. But what fraction of the larger population actually knows that? I consider myself a pretty intelligent well read person, but it was only when a cascade of events accidentally led me over to another calorie counting website many years ago that I figured it out.
Consider the way that the OP has phrased the question: "eating healthy, drinking water, exercising" - not "eating fewer calories than they burn". There are lots of genuinely healthy foods that are very calorie dense - nuts and nut butters are great examples. Eat a lot of those healthy foods and you'll still not lose weight.
Where does a person actually learn that calories are the important part of weight loss? It's certainly not sources like Canada's Food Guide - which likes to pretend that all adults are identical in size and activity level, and have identical caloric needs (except that men get one slightly bigger snack per day). It's not taught at school. Most parents don't know so they can't teach their kids. Most personal trainers don't even really "get it". So, unless you have a friend who calorie counts or you really go looking, you don't find out the most important thing you need to know for weight loss.
To add to the frustration, there are some people who are fortunate enough that they naturally eat fewer calories than they burn. They have the right hormone balance that their body just says "that's enough", and they are often quite active on top of that. They are "naturally thin". Not because of any sort of crazy metabolism; just because they don't get as hungry. And that's just hormones. It's just something the rest of us have to deal with. There's no reason we can't lose weight and get thin too. But we will have to work a bit harder at it. In my case, I have to pay attention to what I put on my plate because my satiation signals basically don't exist.
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Gallowmere1984 wrote: »cerise_noir wrote: »
This. They are most likely not watching their calorie intake.SuzySunshine99 wrote: »They are consuming more calories than they burn. Unless there is a medical condition, that is the only reason.
Eating clean/healthy and exercise does not necessarily mean someone will lose weight.
Really, this is something that's often drastically understated by most people. It's MUCH more effective to restrict calories to lose weight, than it is to increase exercise to any appreciable degree. I can create a 1000 calorie deficit, even with my relatively piddly maintenance calories (2100) pretty easily. To burn an extra 1000 calories in a day via exercise? Yeah, I don't have a bunch of spare hours to spend making myself want to die on an elliptical. So what do you expect from the kind of people who think of walking their dog and washing laundry as exercise?
Walking the dog IS exercise. It might not burn as many calories per hour as running, but it is exercise. So is housework, under the right conditions. It's just hard to quantify compared to a lot of other things. That's why if people do it consistently it winds up under the activity level setting.8 -
Gallowmere1984 wrote: »cerise_noir wrote: »
This. They are most likely not watching their calorie intake.SuzySunshine99 wrote: »They are consuming more calories than they burn. Unless there is a medical condition, that is the only reason.
Eating clean/healthy and exercise does not necessarily mean someone will lose weight.
Really, this is something that's often drastically understated by most people. It's MUCH more effective to restrict calories to lose weight, than it is to increase exercise to any appreciable degree. I can create a 1000 calorie deficit, even with my relatively piddly maintenance calories (2100) pretty easily. To burn an extra 1000 calories in a day via exercise? Yeah, I don't have a bunch of spare hours to spend making myself want to die on an elliptical. So what do you expect from the kind of people who think of walking their dog and washing laundry as exercise?
Walking the dog IS exercise. It might not burn as many calories per hour as running, but it is exercise. So is housework, under the right conditions. It's just hard to quantify compared to a lot of other things. That's why if people do it consistently it winds up under the activity level setting.
No, that's not exercise, unless you do them wearing full military loadouts of gear. Those are called "life". Just like food prep isn't exercise, unless you're a hibachi chef tossing knives and dodging fireballs all day.4 -
Gallowmere1984 wrote: »Gallowmere1984 wrote: »cerise_noir wrote: »
This. They are most likely not watching their calorie intake.SuzySunshine99 wrote: »They are consuming more calories than they burn. Unless there is a medical condition, that is the only reason.
Eating clean/healthy and exercise does not necessarily mean someone will lose weight.
Really, this is something that's often drastically understated by most people. It's MUCH more effective to restrict calories to lose weight, than it is to increase exercise to any appreciable degree. I can create a 1000 calorie deficit, even with my relatively piddly maintenance calories (2100) pretty easily. To burn an extra 1000 calories in a day via exercise? Yeah, I don't have a bunch of spare hours to spend making myself want to die on an elliptical. So what do you expect from the kind of people who think of walking their dog and washing laundry as exercise?
Walking the dog IS exercise. It might not burn as many calories per hour as running, but it is exercise. So is housework, under the right conditions. It's just hard to quantify compared to a lot of other things. That's why if people do it consistently it winds up under the activity level setting.
No, that's not exercise, unless you do them wearing full military loadouts of gear. Those are called "life". Just like food prep isn't exercise, unless you're a hibachi chef tossing knives and dodging fireballs all day.
I walk for exercise frequently. Sometimes it's alone. Sometimes it's with my husband. Sometimes it's with my dogs. It's all physical activity carried out to improve health/fitness, which means it's exercise.
This kind of thing is another reason why people struggle. They try to make healthy changes, which are pooh-poohed, and then they get frustrated and/or confused.
This conversation is interesting because it hits on my biggest frustration with the simplistic and often belittling responses that are given to posters. There are many who give thoughtful answers too but it's not always easy for beginners to sort through all the posts and figure out which are useful.38 -
...they are eating more than they burn.3
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Gallowmere1984 wrote: »Gallowmere1984 wrote: »cerise_noir wrote: »
This. They are most likely not watching their calorie intake.SuzySunshine99 wrote: »They are consuming more calories than they burn. Unless there is a medical condition, that is the only reason.
Eating clean/healthy and exercise does not necessarily mean someone will lose weight.
Really, this is something that's often drastically understated by most people. It's MUCH more effective to restrict calories to lose weight, than it is to increase exercise to any appreciable degree. I can create a 1000 calorie deficit, even with my relatively piddly maintenance calories (2100) pretty easily. To burn an extra 1000 calories in a day via exercise? Yeah, I don't have a bunch of spare hours to spend making myself want to die on an elliptical. So what do you expect from the kind of people who think of walking their dog and washing laundry as exercise?
Walking the dog IS exercise. It might not burn as many calories per hour as running, but it is exercise. So is housework, under the right conditions. It's just hard to quantify compared to a lot of other things. That's why if people do it consistently it winds up under the activity level setting.
No, that's not exercise, unless you do them wearing full military loadouts of gear. Those are called "life". Just like food prep isn't exercise, unless you're a hibachi chef tossing knives and dodging fireballs all day.
I walk for exercise frequently. Sometimes it's alone. Sometimes it's with my husband. Sometimes it's with my dogs. It's all physical activity carried out to improve health/fitness, which means it's exercise.
This kind of thing is another reason why people struggle. They try to make healthy changes, which are pooh-poohed, and then they get frustrated and/or confused.
This conversation is interesting because it hits on my biggest frustration with the simplistic and often belittling responses that are given to posters. There are many who give thoughtful answers too but it's not always easy for beginners to sort through all the posts and figure out which are useful.
Don't get it twisted. I'm not saying that these things aren't useful or helpful. My point is more, this is the kind of stuff that should be factored into one's activity level, and not considered deliberate exercise. The disconnect between the two seems to be pretty common around here, and people fail to account for a lot of things during their inital setups.
When they look at a full exercise log, it seems to do things to their heads, and they start to justify overeating, because they "totally earned" that 1500 kcal trip to Applebees. That might be fine, except for two things: exaggerated calorie burn estimates, and the fact that they are using incredibly low output activities to try and compensate for excessive consumption.0 -
I get in about 70 minutes of walking the dogs every day. It burns, according to my pedometer, about 260 calories. That's probably pretty accurate, because eating back those calories I've been steadily losing weight at the expected rate given my net caloric intake/deficit (hint: it has also diminished greatly as I've lost 105 lbs). On top of that my blood pressure has dropped to 110/70 and my resting heart rate runs in the low 50s. When I wasn't walking, the blood pressure was about 120/80 and the resting heart rate in the 70s. So there's some clear indicators of better cardiovascular health in addition to the calorie burns. I don't particularly enjoy lifting weights, but I garden, landscape, and do housework, moving furniture around several times a week (let's just say I cannot abide dust bunnies). So I have some pretty strong muscles despite being too "lazy" to go fritter away time in a gym. Seems functional enough to me, and its enabled me to move my activity level from "sedentary" to "lightly active" (plus the walking).
The experts actually divide up exercise in low-intensity, moderate-intensity, and high-intensity categories. They are all exercise. They accomplish different things. And for a lot of people, simply increasing their low-intensity activity can yield some surprisingly positive results, particularly if they were very inactive. It is, however, really easy to overestimate calorie burns regardless of the activity you participate in. Aside from moving furniture, I wouldn't classify much housework as anything but "low intensity". Not even moving my really heavy Kirby vacuum cleaner around (and the time spent lugging that thing up/down stairs is negligible).
As far as walking the dogs go, maybe you have some little toy breed that walks at like, 10 feet a minute or something. Some of us have large, active dogs. And we take them out into the wilderness, across fields and up and down hills, playing Frisbee the entire time. Darn straight that's going to get counted as exercise. Particularly when it's also trudging through a foot or more of snow for 6 months out of the year.
"Struggling" with weight loss is generally a combination of psychological and physiological factors. Variable levels of stress, support, discipline, dedication, hormones, physical limitations, opportunities, and attitudes will all affect the perceived and real difficulty in losing weight.
I had a roommate in college who was perpetually underweight. She did not like the taste of food. She did not like the experience of eating. For her, eating was a chore that had to be accomplished to survive. I, on the other hand, loved food and loved eating. For me, keeping track of how much I eat is a chore that must be accomplished. CICO worked for both of us. It just doesn't lead to the same experience in life because we are not the same person living the same life.
CICO works for everyone. Achieving a sustained deficit or balance on the other hand has many paths.32 -
I think some people struggle because they haven't found their "groove" or "sweet spot" where all of a sudden everything clicks and works. That's what happened to me when I started MFP 3 yrs ago. I had always struggled with that 20 lbs--up and down, over the years. CICO works, but you have to find the way to make it work best for you. For some, it's better to up their exercise, for others, to concentrate on cutting calories, for others a combination. Alot of people spin their wheels following the latest fad--healthy eating, detoxes, paleo,vegan, fasting, etc. These all have their place, but they are not the best choice for everyone. Then there are the people with no patience that want to drop 40 lbs in a month. Is that too much???? they ask.4
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Gallowmere1984 wrote: »Gallowmere1984 wrote: »Gallowmere1984 wrote: »cerise_noir wrote: »
This. They are most likely not watching their calorie intake.SuzySunshine99 wrote: »They are consuming more calories than they burn. Unless there is a medical condition, that is the only reason.
Eating clean/healthy and exercise does not necessarily mean someone will lose weight.
Really, this is something that's often drastically understated by most people. It's MUCH more effective to restrict calories to lose weight, than it is to increase exercise to any appreciable degree. I can create a 1000 calorie deficit, even with my relatively piddly maintenance calories (2100) pretty easily. To burn an extra 1000 calories in a day via exercise? Yeah, I don't have a bunch of spare hours to spend making myself want to die on an elliptical. So what do you expect from the kind of people who think of walking their dog and washing laundry as exercise?
Walking the dog IS exercise. It might not burn as many calories per hour as running, but it is exercise. So is housework, under the right conditions. It's just hard to quantify compared to a lot of other things. That's why if people do it consistently it winds up under the activity level setting.
No, that's not exercise, unless you do them wearing full military loadouts of gear. Those are called "life". Just like food prep isn't exercise, unless you're a hibachi chef tossing knives and dodging fireballs all day.
I walk for exercise frequently. Sometimes it's alone. Sometimes it's with my husband. Sometimes it's with my dogs. It's all physical activity carried out to improve health/fitness, which means it's exercise.
This kind of thing is another reason why people struggle. They try to make healthy changes, which are pooh-poohed, and then they get frustrated and/or confused.
This conversation is interesting because it hits on my biggest frustration with the simplistic and often belittling responses that are given to posters. There are many who give thoughtful answers too but it's not always easy for beginners to sort through all the posts and figure out which are useful.
Don't get it twisted. I'm not saying that these things aren't useful or helpful. My point is more, this is the kind of stuff that should be factored into one's activity level, and not considered deliberate exercise. The disconnect between the two seems to be pretty common around here, and people fail to account for a lot of things during their inital setups.
When they look at a full exercise log, it seems to do things to their heads, and they start to justify overeating, because they "totally earned" that 1500 kcal trip to Applebees. That might be fine, except for two things: exaggerated calorie burn estimates, and the fact that they are using incredibly low output activities to try and compensate for excessive consumption.
Then the reason that person is struggling is because they are using exaggerated calorie burn estimates which leads to overeating. It's not that they are considering the walking to be exercise as opposed to daily activity. It doesn't really matter what pot you put the exercise in (purposeful exercise or daily activity) as long as you don't double count it and use reasonable calorie estimates.
I have seen several MFP long-timers, as opposed to beginners, who have been struggling lately, myself included. We are people who fully know and understand the concept of CICO but for many of us there are other things going on in life that are making weight loss (or even maintenance) difficult at the moment. I am taking the OP's question--"What's gone wrong?"--in a very literal sense, as in what are the complicating factors that are causing this struggle. I'm not taking it as "Why don't they lose weight?" which just boils down to math.14 -
They haven't chosen the right detox, bought the right weight loss supplements and aren't eating clean healthy organic vegan food.
Or they are not eating in a calorie deficit.7 -
It does depend what you mean by "struggling".
(1) Trying the right things (i.e. eating less and moving more) but finding it hard? That's because it is hard, it takes, time, practice and knowledge, including self-knowledge, and we will all struggle sometimes. The key is to persist and learn.
Or (2) trying the wrong things? For example, eating "healthy" but not paying attention to portion sizes and calorie counts? Or "doing lots of exercise" but overestimating the calorie burn and eating too much as a result?
A LOT of people are stuck in the second situation. The only way out of it is to knuckle down and start tracking food and exercise honestly and using good information.5 -
trigden1991 wrote: »They haven't chosen the right detox, bought the right weight loss supplements and aren't eating clean healthy organic vegan food.
Or they are not eating in a calorie deficit.
I'll take door #2, Monty.2 -
To me if some one is overweight they have skewed idea what "healthy" is or how much they truly eat. I had been my same weight of my life, I Wrongly assumed that I couldn't be skinny. low and behold when I actually weigh my food the melted off. So if it doesnt, I've come to realize they're not being honest/truthful in their diet and log somehow.1
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